Dr. Fauci Pressed on Trump’s Claim COVID-19 Is ‘Disappearing’: ‘Look at the Data’

Dr. Anthony Fauci does not believe that the coronavirus is disappearing right now, as multiple states across the United States continue to combat increases in the virus.

As ABC’s David Muir mentioned the president’s recent messaging where he claimed the virus is “disappearing,” the host asked Fauci during an interview late Monday, “Are you comfortable with those words ‘this is disappearing?'”

Fauci responded in saying there are things people can do to help mitigate the virus and get it “under control,” and added that he does believe it is “achievable” to get to the point where the COVID-19 outbreak is “quite controlled.”

When pressed again if the virus is “disappearing at the moment,” the nation’s top infectious disease expert answered, “No, it’s not.”

“I mean, all you’ve got to do is look at the data, David,” Fauci, White House Coronavirus Task Force member, added. “The virus is telling us what it can and will do if we don’t confront it properly.”

There are seven U.S. states and territories that are seeing an increase in coronavirus cases, while 23 states are seeing decreases and the others are mostly the same in cases, according to The New York Times’ statistics.

Watch Fauci’s interview below:

Fauci’s remarks about the virus come shortly after the president continued to press for schools to reopen this fall, as many are wary of it due to the virus.

While suggesting schools “should open” during a Fox News interview last week, Trump said, “This thing is going away. It will go away like things go away and my view is that schools should be open.”